Introduction to Domestic Chaos
by Cotto
Summary: "Dad, I know you need to have happiness in your life, but of all the people you could've married, did it have to be HER?"
1. Yeah, but did you Have to marry Her, Dad

**Introduction to Domestic Chaos.**

 _ **By James Carmody.**_

 **Disclaimer:** _I do not own anything of the copyrights to Buffy, Angel, or any of the spinoff comics. I forego any financial claim to this work, only claiming the storyline for my own in this case. This is aimed at fun, my own and that of other fans. Please do not sue. I will not accept a single red cent for this. Nor do I own Narnia, as I am neither Joss Whedon nor C. S. Lewis; I am, however, a fan of both._

 **Genre(s):** _Drama, Family, Romance, Humor._

 **Characters:** _Hank Summers, Faith Lehane, Xander Harris, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Willow Danielle Rosenberg, Kennedy (BtVS), Satsu (BtVS), Aslan._

 **Pairing:** _Hank Summers/Faith Lehane (Romance), Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers/Dawn Summers/Hank Summers (Family)._

 **Warning:** _Weird Stuff Ahead! THIS_ _WILL __GET WEIRD! You have been warned!_

 **Summary:** _"Dad, I know you need to have happiness in your life, but of all the people you could've married, did it have to be HER?"_

 **Rating:** _PG-13, or T, that kind... pretty darn clean in behavior, actually._

 **Author's Story Notes/Setting:** _Post Season 10 things get seriously odd. Read it and find out... don't worry, besides the peculiar family bond, this is basically to be considered Teen or PG 13 in terms of severity- not graphic at all, but bizarre for sure!_

 _Will be roughly three to five short but good length chapters of peculiar domestic fun- as I warned: things will get weird!_

 _Point of view may shift too, if it does, I shall provide a description of who's point of view it is._

 **Chapter 1.): "Yeah But Did you HAVE to marry HER, Dad?"**

 **Chapter 1 Beginning Author's Notes:** _This mostly deals with the emotional confusion possible and likely in blended families- here I've chosen about the most peculiar type of blended family imaginable; I shall endeavor to write that context into the story. The nature of how this story belongs in my community and collection of stories is that it depicts emotional problems that will come from blended families- granted, they aren't always a bad thing, and can work out quite well, often. Difficulty is in adjusting to the new family dynamic-often I believe they do work out, but are always difficult for the members to adjust to._

 _Anyway, please tell me what you think of this tale of oddness, drama, family, romance, and generally a love story of a peculiar sort._

This day was certainly one for the ages, Buffy Summers realized, sitting in the building, waiting for her dad to marry his new wife, her stepmother. What she hadn't realized was that this stepmom of hers and Dawn's was indeed the thing that'd blow her day wide open!

Buffy, Dawn, and Dawn's new boyfriend sat in the front pew, on the other side Willow sat, side-by-side with her ex, Kennedy. Beside Kennedy sat a young girl she realized had to be Brie, Kennedy's stepsister- she looked old enough to be Kennedy's twin, actually, and from the way those two were acting they seemed rather close. Buffy made a note to check up on her theory, hypothesis actually; and verify what was going on.

The biggest surprise however, was who Hank Summers was marrying- down the isle walked someone that made Buffy Summers blink, several times: Faith Lehane was in a stunningly gorgeous wedding gown, and had her long dark brown hair in an exceptionally gorgeous bun of a sort- it was loose, and to Buffy's eyes, she looked, well _beautiful_. Inside, however, Buffy was screaming _"Oh, (Bleep)-NO! Not Her! Dad, How Could You?!"_ she was truly on freak-out interiorly. To Buffy's humiliation, however, the people on the other side of the isle picked up on her distress about getting Faith of all people as a stepmom, and Kennedy covered her mouth with a hand to hide a snicker, Buffy was sure.

This would only get worse as time went on, and throughout the rest of the day Buffy could really feel her floor drop out from underneath her- much to her terror of public embarrassment.

As Buffy looked to her left, she could see that Dawn was enjoying herself, both at the wedding and at the reception that followed, as she recalled, and as she recalled during her travel back home she remembered her frustration and inwardly she groaned in social agony.

However, she also remembered her friend's support in this manner that follows.

From behind her came a hand to cover her left shoulder, and turning she saw a beautiful Oriental young woman, Satsu Yamamoto, who mouthed to her "Don't worry, it can't be that bad, and even if it is, I'll help you get through it."

Buffy mouthed back "Thanks, but this is a family matter- however, I may take you up on that." Buffy amended, upon detecting Satsu's disappointment at Buffy seeming to reject her offer of help- Late did Elizabeth, as she'd let Satsu know was her real name, realize that the Japanese woman did understand public humiliation.

The reception was immense fun: there was dancing, games, drinking, generally a big party that lasted late into the night; but things got weird whenever Faith Lehane-Summers tried to bond with either of her new stepdaughters- eventually, and from Hank's expression, this was odd in his eyes, there occurred a photograph scene of Faith in her wedding gown seated on her older stepdaughter's lap, or Buffy holding her new stepmom on her lap. This event caused Xander Harris to laugh out loud... William Pratt, also a guest at the insistence of Buffy Anne Summers, and ironically the bride, Faith Lehane, who persuaded Hank to invite him; found the whole scene amusing... he was her oldest stepdaughter's boyfriend, and Faith really wanted to be accepted by her new family. Logic told her it'd take a long time for that to happen, but in the meantime she was having a lot of fun with her new family; and wasn't about to spoil it for anything!

Dawn completely enjoyed this encounter, she well remembered bonding with Faith as the older brunette had watched her while her family was engaged in their activities late in the evening; Faith had babysat Dawn, and the two had really become quite close, so Dawn largely loved Faith's company.

But for Buffy having a stepmother who was in fact only three weeks older than herself was very unusual, and would take a long time to get used to- hence, and she dreaded this: perfect recipe for drama in large doses!

In another dimension, Aslan, who had a taste for love-stories; the good ones, not the crummy ones that mistake lust for love, but the ones that deal with the true virtue of charity, was watching and trying to influence this to protect these people... he was also having immense fun, and recalling a wedding he'd attended in Cana some over 2000 years ago on that very world. Inwardly He smiled to Himself, _'yes, this would work out in the end if I can only help them to protect their desires from corruption'._ He thought.

To Be Continued...

 **End Chapter 1 Author's Notes:** _So, what did you people think of this? Don't be shy, please be open about your ideas of this- it ought to be considered a love-story of a sort._

 _I am writing this in response to someone else's suggestion to me on a challenge I wrote on tth fanfic; they suggested Hank marrying Faith, and this cooked up in my brain._

 _This chapter's a two-parter, at least... the next chapter will complete this one. If it seems rushed it's because I got to writing this and wanted to get my ideas down; I'm kind of an amateur at writing romance, so please do bear gently with me if you are able. Thank you for reading and reviewing/commenting on this._

 _Yeah, this is a short chapter; first chapter always sets the place and characters, later ones dictate more of the action- the challenge of writing the first chapter is to provide enough of an introduction to get people interested in the tale while still being brief enough to provide a link to the story later on._

 _The type of love stories that Aslan would enjoy are the modest ones; devoid of replacing love with lust, but focusing on the sacrifice aspect of love; and yes, this would indeed be a proper remarriage, as by now Joyce has passed away, although Hank marrying a woman who's three weeks older than his eldest daughter is a bit outside the bounds of normal behavior- hence the drama and emotional intensity._


	2. Honeymoon and Wedding Parties of Joy

**Chapter 2.): Honeymoon and Wedding Party Memories of Joy.**

 **Chapter 2 Summary:** _A Newly-Wed Faith Lehane-Summers remembers her wedding party, tries to bond with her new family, and before the end, encounters a surprising visitor who'll change her life for the better. She also is reminded of how she met her husband Hank Summers, and how they bonded, blossoming into a wirlwind romance._

 **Beginning Chapter 2 Author's Notes:** _Folks: excellent input on all accounts! I shall make this tale a bit longer than anticipated, thanks to the interesting fan input in comments... while I patently disagree with some of the attitudes, the perspectives of all the matters involved in this story has given me a lot to address. Thank you folks without limit for your input and, in effect, useful support. (Remember: support doesn't need to be "I like this" it can be, and often is, criticisms of the work- citing the problems in it and the like.)_

 _I hope you people appreciate and enjoy this tale; it is proving to be a fun tale indeed... especially the idea of having Faith become Buffy's stepmom- that's endless fun, and believe me: this is a proper family, as she is a batchelorette and married a widower, so: no adultery involved!_

 _Folks, remember, this is in the Comics Seasons, pretty much in the later 2010s, practically 2017, so these women are in their_ _thirties_ _, as a result they are a_ _lot_ _more_ _mature_ _, especially since they were in their teens; this chapter takes place a good few weeks later, roughly almost a month._

Mrs. Faith Summers was busy in the process of making sandwiches for her family; it'd been her idea to have the honeymoon with her new family, and when her husband, Hank, was busy for the time, she'd spend her free time with her new daughters. This was rooted in her desire to bond with her new family; despite this, she felt like a constant outsider in her new household... this, the brunette Slayer suspected, was due to her being only three weeks older than her elder stepdaughter, so there was definitely drama involved in this _"It's inevitable"_ Faith thought to herself _"B and I are close enough to practically be almost twins, so this is, while a proper family, inherently odd... hence the soap-opera drama."_ Faith wasn't what you'd call a "traditional woman", in fact, in some ways she was still a kid at heart; which made her newfound family even odder to consider., but she loved her husband and her new daughters, _"by marriage, not blood."_ she reminded herself as she continued happily in her domestic labor for her family.

How this'd happened that she'd married this widower was in and of itself odd: he'd been on a business trip to somewhere in the US southwest and, as it turned out, she'd rescued him from a zompire attack- ripping the thing's head off and he had seen it break down into dust as she tore it's head off with her bare hands- saving his life was even more potent than _any_ love-spell could've been, and after a wirlwind romance they'd gotten married. The wedding itself was immense fun for Faith- in some ways she literally _was_ very traditional for a woman: and her marriage was a high-point for her. Faith suspected inwardly that B had wanted to make sure that her dad was safe, and was in doubt that he was actually going to wed **her** , well... B was sure in for a surprise! Faith smiled as she remembered her wedding outfit: a gorgeous and stunning white dress, literally a gown, white high-heeled shoes that were fancy indeed, her gown had long non-lace sleeves that extended down almost to her wrists, she wore a white vale over her eyes, typical of a bride, and had her long brown tresses of hair in a loose bun; she felt stunningly gorgeous- and knew she was. On her left wrist was a black digital alarm watch.

The reception party was immense fun, although there were a few incidents; like finding out that Kennedy had to fight out a matter she'd encountered: her sister had almost been a victim of magical sexual assault; and Kennedy was completely enraged. From what Faith had put together, she herself was over by the punch bowl scooping up a ladle of drink for her glass, and due to her Slayer hearing and senses, she heard this woman, Brie, yelling from outside the back door in an argument with Kennedy "Come-on! Fight it out!", she literally felt their rage over this matter, and was concerned. She need not be, as it turned out; Kennedy clearly loved Brie, but in the same protective way that Buffy and Dawn loved eachother, so she found out that these two were trying to work something out. Faith later on found out that this matter they were engaged in a streetfight between sisters over was that thanks to Amy casting a love-spell on Brie towards Willow, Brie was in danger then and there towards being a victim of date-rape, so necessarily Kennedy was upset. Faith realized that she too was massively angry: the idea of someone's consent being ignored or forced now hurt her. _"When did that change happen?"_ Faith asked herself, puzzled; but she _liked_ that change: it made her _better_ , more _moral_ , and therefore more _secure_.

Faith remembered playing around with Buffy by sitting on her lap; this was not violence, and she knew that Buffy was able to take it without any discomfort; they were both very strong females- physically speaking- so this was really just them playing around.

She smiled a bit, thinking about B's friendships, especially Buffy being Spike's boyfriend; the support her stepdaughter's ex-girlfriend had ensured her of; the prosperity of her new family was literally Heaven to the new stepmom, so she felt like she was in Mary's shoes... Faith had never taken her religion very seriously, but she felt like she was on top of the world, and was determined to not blow it this time; a good percentile of her plan was to make sure to "pay her bills", referring to "social bills" regarding her relationships. Inside, however, Faith was sad; she'd loved her father-figure, Richard Wilkins, but he wasn't any better really than the young woman who'd almost gotten poor Brie raped on a date, or than Caleb, that butcher who'd started out as a Priest, but he was clearly a "priest gone bad"... this hurt. It took her till now to realize that as kind to her as Mayor Wilkins had been, she wasn't a daughter to him, she was a slave to him- he just disguised it as "love", meaning paternal love when really it was abuse; as the relationship was that she was his _property_ , instead of his _adopted kid_ , and he was leading her astray the whole time too!

Once she'd set up the sandwiches she put them in the fridge, with a letter on each's bag to represent who the sandwich was for, and sat down on the front step to her new home. Her clothes today were her leather pants, her red tank top, her dark blue denim jacket, and some combat boots, as well as thick socks, and a studded leather belt around her waist... she reached into her pocket of her jacket for her packet of cigarettes, and as she did so, she considered her motorcycle's condition, as well as her inherited property in England; thanks to Giles' will, she was pretty darn wealthy now- but none of that, even combined, came close to or remotely equaled her role now as wife and mother in terms of dignity. She pulled out her lighter and a cigarette, and then she saw something that made exactly so little sense that she believed that she had passed out and was hallucinating!

She saw a large male lion walking down the street, he turned and walked up her lawn, and all she could think was _"Wow! This's creepy."_ she couldn't even get herself to run, and for some reason she felt like there was no need, as if something in her told her that he meant no harm.

Things got far odder too, as he walked up towards her and then, to her complete and utter surprise, began to talk to her. As she tried to listen, to analyze his words, the lessons she'd received in her church school classes as a girl came back to her: visits from either God, a saint, or an angel or any spirit are often quite bizarre... then a lesson from Diana came back to her: "If visited by something preternatural; it's vital to gather as much data as you can, so listen, but analyze **everything** involved in the intrusion, so her first trained response was to listen and study- search for weakness- much of her training had included some episodes of Star Trek Classic early on, especially the episode "Balance of Terror", which she had been told to take in the approach the Romulan Commander voices in that episode as a means of protecting herself when dealing with potentially hostile spiritual entities.

To her complete surprise: this lion spoke to her, calmly "Excellent response." he said, as if appraising a student's reaction to a question in a test, and raising his eyebrows as he did so.

" _I need as much information as I can get."_ Faith thought, knowing that accurate data was vital to defending herself- should it come up. "Who are you?" she asked him, baffled that he could talk.

"Oh, sorry, name's Aslan... course you knew me once by a far different name, and you even received me in a far different form." he said, as if it were nothing more than idle conversation at this point.

Faith looked at Aslan, with a totally baffled expression for a bit, saying with a puzzled frown "Huh?"

Aslan kept right on going at this point, after letting her get in her peace "I don't usually come into this world in this form, that's point one, point two: I want to say that I'm very proud of you, not only did you put your life back together despite the dangers you've suffered- hazards that nobody should have to endure- but also I fully support your marriage to Hank Summers, so... consider this visit a belated wedding gift, among other things; you've always been called to be My employee, this is just another branch of service: the role of parent..." she kind of lost track of everything this lion was saying to her; a good part of it was that she was confused; this was very odd indeed!

Now Faith had some ideas, but all this had left the Bostonian completely confused- even more so than she had been before when this lion began to talk to her to begin with; she was about to put the cigarette into her mouth when another odd thing happened: the Lion then shook his head sadly and said "How disappointing; I had hoped that you'd refrain from harming your body like that..." but something about his reply caused her to freeze up and refrain from smoking then and there- she then sensed something else working on her as if from within her character itself, the deepest levels of her very soul.

Faith had practically lost her religious affiliation some years ago, in fact, by the time she was eighteen she pretty much only believed in herself- which now she realized was sad, for if she ran across something she couldn't beat- then she'd never be able to acquire any level above her natural performance level; hence she'd never be more than she is now or was then. _"Where'd this apatite for philosophy come from?"_ the Brunette woman wondered to herself as she sat on the steps of her new home, wondering in a puzzled mindset.

Now she reflected on her dates with Henry Summers; she'd ran across him once one of his girlfriends and he'd broken up, saved his life, and to be blunt, the two had fallen in love pretty quick. It'd been a wirlwind romance, but one of true compassion between the two; now her mind reflected on how she'd been the one to insist on his daughters being present at the wedding "They're going to be my daughters too... I want them to be invited, Hank, my Love." she'd said; it was clear he'd given into her request because he had no reason not to- besides, shortly, if everything went well, and it did, she'd wind up their stepmother; and it's right and good that they bond together.

Then inside her mind another scene flashed; this one where she was just recently married to Hank Summers; she was seated between her stepdaughters on the sofa couch, and they were talking about her bad actions- some things surprised her about this, though... a few that stood out were that she was a whole lot more willing to face the music for what she'd done, particularly to the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale; she had been talking to them, but her reflections showed her that she'd been deeply upset by what had happened to that man- before it was over she was weeping on B's nearer shoulder, and realized that the bond she had with her stepdaughters was closer by far to sisterly than to maternal on her part. Indeed, she remembered that Dawn had placed her left hand on her own right knee, the one nearer to Dawn, and the Brunette had told her that they'd bonded, mostly due to the fact that Faith had babysat Dawn while her mom was away and Buffy was out on patrol some nights; it was helpful to have a babysitter who was also given superpowers for Mrs. Joyce Summers to be blunt, and as it turns out, Dawn'd bonded with Faith better at the wedding reception- partly due to remembering her in the category of "friend", particularly far more than someone trying to intrude into their family.

"Faith" Aslan said gently, and she looked up, returning to this real world rather than dwelling in her memories for a moment "there's someone I'd like you to hear the opinions of." Aslan said, plainly.

Faith nodded, and immediately, to her right side off near her flowergarden there stood her predecessor in the role of "mom" to her daughters. "Don't worry" Joyce said "I don't have any objections to you marrying my former husband." This struck Faith as odd, most women get very territorial, she knew, about another coming into a relationship with their guy. Immediately her "antenna went up" as the saying goes, and she got ready to fight or flee, for something seemed amiss here, but her combat training taught her that she needed to hear this out so as to be better prepared to fend it off if need be.

Joyce, however, explained "He's a widower, you were a batchelorette, the marriage is valid in that regard- I died, at that moment, if divorce doesn't end marriage, then my marriage was dissolved by my death... you didn't do anything wrong" Joyce then sat down and placed her hand behind Faith's back as if to comfort her "our daughters, however, will need more time to adjust to you as their new mom- to get them, you just need to keep at it." Joyce said, winked at her in a friendly manner, and disappeared- it was then clear to Faith that this had indeed been Joyce' soul visiting her, she'd been visited by her predecessor and previous boss as a ghost.

" _Previous boss fits right, she employed me to babysit her younger daughter."_ the brunette thought to herself as she mulled over this input she'd just received, and aimed to judge it for herself... then she heard loud and clear in her head, her ex-boss' voice saying [My daughters need a mom in their lives- be that to them, as I cannot anymore.] and it was clear to Faith that either this was the First trying to sneak into her heart and mind or this was her former boss, Joyce Summers, telling her not to worry about her marriage... when Faith looked at Aslan, she got her proof to be combined with her intrinsic logic; He merely nodded knowingly and smiled to her.

That evening, Faith was lying in bed with her hubby for one of the earlier times in their marriage, but apparently the sounds of them engaging in marital acts and talking to eachother as they did were perceptible to her new elder daughter, who said "Later, Mom and Dad, I'm heading out."

Faith looked at her husband, who seemed a tad irritated at their kid- she could see him clearly, despite the dim level of light, and laughed in a loving manner "Don't worry" she said and kissed him "B and I have been patrolling long before I met you... either she knows how to handle herself or I don't know a darn thing!" she said with a smile; inside her mind another memory came to the fore again- they'd been co-workers for more than twelve years by now, and now it was the memory of how she'd reminded Hank of the truth that his daughter wasn't insane; it was just after the zompire attack she'd ended and saved his life in the process- he'd quickly found out that this woman he was in love with was unbelievably assertive to say the least; and she'd told him several things- the end result of her update to him was that he saw his elder daughter as no longer a bit of a sad lunatic but rather as some form of a "girl knight" or dame.

It was a short time afterwards when Faith found out that her record was expunged; though she didn't know _**how**_ that'd happened- it turned out to be a legal trick by her daughter's best friend- using resources left over from the old Watchers' council and that organization's contacts with a law-firm named Wolfram  & Hart; how pretty little Red had managed to work **that** one out was beyond Faith's imagining!

"But it may not have been Red to do that." Faith mused to herself as she sat on the front step of her home and tried to find out why they, namely the law enforcement, weren't after her, watching the sunlight and drinking a hot cocoa with cream to cool it down just right from a large hot/cold mug and looking at the beautiful neighborhood she lived in in the next morning... B'd been out all night, and while she knew her stepdaughter pretty well, better than she knew her husband's personality in fact, she was a tad worried; and that fact baffled the brunette woman. She knew Buffy could and would handle herself magnificently if danger arose, but this concern confused her; however, she couldn't deny that becoming a mommy had changed her for the better!

What'd confused the newlywed bride and stepmom was that she wasn't being pursued; what she didn't know is that it was the work of Wolfram & Hart, and some contacts Willow had made- why still baffled the new Mrs. Summers to no end; and she was still getting adjusted to thinking of herself by her new surname too., Angel hadn't told her yet the story of who'd gotten her record expunged and effectively deleted from the law enforcement database... and that wasn't the only surprise for the young wife and mother, either, there were other things going on at that that baffled, and there were still other things involved in this case too that confused Faith Summers now to no end, as she sat there sipping her hot chocolate and enjoying the time on the clock for a bit.

Yep, things were definitely looking up for Faith at that, and in idle and eerily fraternal conversation Aslan made that much clear to her too; she was still on guard around Him though, and He must've sensed it, but curiously made no hostile move whatsoever...

 **End Chapter #2.): Author's Notes:** _More will be revealed as time goes on, as Scheherazade learned in the tale 1001 Arabian Nights she told in classical literature; you always leave your audience hanging for more of the story as it progresses and you stop the tale right when it gets interesting to keep the audience interested in the story- all too many stories have died because the story writers stop it when the tale gets boring or finishes with an exciting scene, so rest assured more will come and more of your excellent observations will be resolved as the story continues!_


End file.
